Lubbock Left

Today is Robert Pratt’s first day back on the job, and he already had to get a shot in at Mikal Watts, who had a very successful meet-and-greet with local activists last Friday. He had the typical line of attack that anyone with half a brain would see coming: Watts is a … *gasp* … SUCCESSFUL TRIAL LAWYER !!!

It’s too bad for Pratt and his cohorts that Watts understands how to speak about his successes as a personal injury attorney. This line of attack will go nowhere, as every such attack only provides another opportunity for Watts to demonstrate how he has stood up for the little guy time and time again.

The one interestingly boneheaded twist was that Pratt went after Watts specifically for winning large settlements against big corporations that made unsafe products but decided to sell them anyway, like Ford and Bridgestone/Firestone. Pratt actually said that “corporations are made up of consumers,” as if to imply that going after multinational corporations that put profit before public safety was somehow hurting our citizens.

Robert Pratt doesn’t understand that consumers and investors are two different sets of people. More accurately, everyone is a consumer while only a few of us are investors. Furthermore, the fact that corporations are “made up of consumers” is even more trivial when you consider that most investors own a small fraction of a corporation. Really, a few powerful individuals and groups — the BIG investors — actually run a corporation. (I would also argue that those of us that are unknowing investors through compulsory stock-based retirement plans don’t count as investors either, but that’s for another post.)

So Robert, bring on your corporatist rhetoric. The Watts campaign — and those of us politicking on the ground — are ready for it.

http://www.wattsforsenate.com/